The sun appears, the mood lifts? Academics say they have scientifically proved we are more positive if the weather is ‘good’.
Photograph: Caiaimage/Paul Bradbury/Getty Images

It may seem extraordinary that it took collaboration between six top quality universities to prove that we are all happier when the sun comes out. Between them academics analysed 2.4bn Facebook messages and 1.1bn posts on Twitter, between 2009 and 2016, measuring the content against the weather conditions. They came to the conclusion that we were all more positive on warm sunny days than when it was cold and wet.

Sun + people = happiness?

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Scientists say that this had always been a popular belief but it had not until this moment been scientifically proved. They expressed surprise, though, that the difference between the comments posted was so marked. The messages contained far more positive keywords when the weather was “better” and the opposite when it was “poor”.

Now we come to the sinister bit. How can this information be used to commercial advantage? The researchers are suggesting that advertisers could check the forecast to anticipate the effect of the next day’s weather on the minds of the public and modify their campaigns to increase sales.

They even suggest that news outlets “might need” to report more cheerful stories when the weather is bad so as not to depress their audience further – and speculate that we might all get grumpier as climate change progresses.